Rib-knit turned cuff sock



H. SHIELDS Nov. 25, 196% Filed July 19, 19.68

ATTORNEYS Nov. 25, 3969 Filed July 19,

H. SHIELDS 3,479,843

RIB-KNIT TURNED CUFF SOCK 2 SheetsSheet 2 HVVENTOR! HARPER sHlELbsATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,479,843 RTE-KNIT TURNED CUFF SUCKHarper Shields, Burlington, N.C., assiguor to Alamance Industries, Inc,Burlington, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed July 19, 1968,Ser. No. 746,028 Int. Cl. D0411 9/54 US. Cl. 66173 2 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE The sock includes an integrally knit true rib turned cuffwhich may be worn straight up on the leg or turned down and the cufffabric has the same appearance in either position. The sock is knit on amachine having sets of cylinder and dial needles and the initiallyformed loops Of the cuff are held on idled cylinder needles during therib knitting of the turned cuff portion.

This invention relates generally to a sock having a true rib turned cuffand to a method of knitting the same on a knitting machine having setsof cylinder and dial needles.

It is possible to knit a mock rib type cuff on a machine having a singleset of cylinder needles by inlaying an elastic yarn on certain needles.The inlaid elastic causes spaced wales to stand out and form mock ribson the outer surface of the cuff portion of the sock. However, mock ribsare not formed on the inner side of this cuff so that it has adistinctly different appearance from the outer side and a completelydifferent fabric appearance is presented when the cuff of the sock isturned down.

Cuffs of true rib fabric have also been produced on socks by knittingmachines having sets of cylinder and dial needles. This type of true ribcuff fabric has the same appearance on both sides so that if may beturned down or worn straight up. However, this type of true rib cuff isknit as a single-ply and therefore does not provide a thick, heavy orbulky appearance.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a sock including an integrally knit true rib, outwardly turnedcuff which has the same fabric appearance when worn straight up on theleg or when turned down and wherein the two plies of the turned cuffprovide a heavy or bulky appearance.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a true ribturned cuff which is knit on a machine having sets of cylinder and dialneedles and wherein the initially 7 formed loops of the cuff are held onidled cylinder needles while operating the remaining cylinder needlesand the dial needles to form a section of true rib fabric, and then theidled cylinder needles are activated to turn the rib fabric outwardlyand automatically join it togeiher.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of thesock of the present invention, with the true rib turned cuff in astraight up position;

FIGURE 2 is a greatly enlarged, somewhat schematic illustration of thelower juncture of the two-ply true rib cuff with the body of the sock,the two plies being separated and the stitch loops being drawn out andgreatly enlarged for purposes of clarity;

FIGURE 3 is a developed view of the cams surrounding the needlecylinder, taken as if looking Outwardly from the inside of the cylinderand illustrating the paths of travel of the cylinder needles during theknitting of the true rib cuff;

"ice

FIGURE 4 is a sectional plan view through the dial, illustrating thedial needle cams and the path of travel of the dial needles during theknitting of the true rib cuff; and

FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional view through portions of the dial andneedle cylinder, being taken along line 55 in FIGURE 4 and illustratingthe manner in which stitch loops are transferred from the dial needlesto the cylinder needles.

Generally, the sock of the present invention includes a true rib,outwardly turned cuff, broadly indicated at C (FIGURE 1), a foot 10including the usual heel and toe pockets 11, 12, and a tubular ankleportion 13 extending upwardly above the heel pocket 11. The foot 10 maybe knit in any conventional manner and the ankle portion 13 is knit withcontinuous rotation of the needle cylinder while all of the cylinderneedles operate to produce a plain jersey, non-rib fabric.

The cuff C includes an outer or first-knit ply P1 and an inner orsecond-knit ply P2 which are joined together at their upper ends along afold and their lower ends are automatically joined on the knittingmachine, in a manner to be presently described. The lower portion of theply P1 is illustrated in FIGURE 2 as including courses C-2 through C-12,while the lower portion of the ply P2 includes courses C- through C107.The upper edge portion of the ankle portion 13 is represented in FIGURE2 by the courses C-108 through C110. Thus, the two plies P1 and P2 arejoined with the knitting of the course C108 and the remaining courses inthe lower portion of the stocking are knit as a single ply of fabric.

The lower edge of the ply Pl is joined to the lower edge of the ply P2by stitch loops of a connector or make-up course C-1 which are connectedto stitch loops in alternate wales (W-l and W3) of course C-8 of the plyPl, alternate stitch loops in course C-108, and to every stitch loop incourse C2. The course C-Z is the first of a plurality of selvage courses(C-2 through C-8) which contain only half as many stitch loops as theremaining fabric.

In the finished stocking, the selvage courses C-Z through C-8 roll upand the course C-9 is drawn down closely adjacent the course C108 by thestitch loops in the make-up course C-l. Thus, the make-up course C-lserves as a connection between the initially formed edge of the ply P1and the upper course of the leg portion 13 and draws the initially knitedge of the cuff down and integrally knits it with the leg portion toform what will be termed a true rib outturned cuff on the sock.

The sock of the present invention is knit on a circular hosiery machineof the type having a set of cylinder needles N and N (FIGURE 3) and aset of dial needles D (FIGURE 4) which cooperate with each other toproduce the sock. The machine includes a slotted needle cylinder 20(FIGURE 5) in which the cylinder needles N and N are supported forvertical movement. A sinker bed 21 is supported on the upper end of theneedle cylinder 20 and is provided with radial grooves which slidablysupport sinkers 22 for movement between the cylinder needles N and N inthe usual manner. A sinker cap 23 is supported on the sinker bed 21 andcontains the usual cams which cooperate with the upstanding butts of thesinkers 22 to determine the radial position of the sinkers.

A radially grooved dial bed 24 supports dial needles D and is driven inthe usual manner, not shown, in timed relationship to movement of theneedle cylinder 20 so that the dial needles D are maintained in theproper alignment with the cylinder needles. In the present instance,there are half as many dial needles D as cylinder needles and the dialneedles are in substantial alignment above every other cylinder needle.Thus, the dial needles are aligned with alternate cylinder needles N(FIG- URE 3) and no dial needles are aligned with intervening cylinderneedles N.

The radial position of the dial needles D is controlled by cams (FIGURE4) which are supported beneath a dial plate 25 (FIGURE 5). These dialcams include an outer cam ring 27, an inner cam ring 28, a transfer cam29 and a shed cam 30 which are supported on the dial plate in fixedpositions. The transfer cam 29 and the shed cam 30 are spaced apart fromeach other by about 90 degrees (FIGURE 4) and define the generallocations of respective transfer and knitting stations. A knittingpush-out cam 31 is supported for vertical movement in advance of theshed cam 30 and a transfer push-out cam 32 is supported for verticalmovement in advance of the transfer cam 29. A swing cam 33 is alsoprovided in advance of the transfer cam 29 and is supported for swingingmovement on the lower end of a control post 34.

The cams which control the vertical movement of the cylinder needles Nare illustrated in FIGURE 3 and include fixed ring cams 35-38 whichsurround the needle cylinder 20 and are suitably supported in theconventional manner on the bed plate, not shown. Jack raising cams 39and 40 are supported to engage the butts of jacks I which are supportedfor vertical movement beneath every other cylinder needle, indicated atN in FIGURE 3. Conventional switch cams 41, 42 are supported for radialmovement adjacent a conventional widening pick cam 43 and operate toswitch selected groups of needles into and out of active position, aswhen knitting the heel and toe portions of the sock.

The knitting cams include a top center cam 44, 'a right-hand stitch cam45, a left-hand stitch cam 46, and a lower center cam 47. These knittingcams are supported beneath a yarn feeding station which includes a latchring 50 having a yarn throat opening 51 in which yarn feed fingers, suchas indicated at 52 (FIGURE 3), are supported for movement into and outof yarn feeding position. A dividing cam 53 is supported for radialmovement adjacent the right-hand stitch cam and operates to at timesdirect the butts of needles N beneath the stitch earns 45, 46, asillustrated in dash-dot lines in FIGURE 3. Needle raise cams 55, 56 and57 are supported for radial movement in a conventional manner. Theneedle raise cams 56, 57 are moved inwardly to active position duringreciprocatory movement of the needle cylinder, as when knitting heel andtoe pockets.

As is the usual practice, long butt needles are positioned in that halfof the needle cylinder on which the instep portion of the stocking isknit while short butt needles are positioned in the other half of theneedle cylinder, on which the heel and toe pockets are knit. Long buttdial needles are positioned in that half of the dial which correspondsto the instep half of the needle cylinder and short butt dial needlesare positioned in the other half of the dial.

' METHOD OF KNITTING During the first round and one-half of the needlecylinder and dial, in forming the course indicated at C-1 in FIGURE 2,the divided cam 53 (FIGURE 3) is withdrawn to an inactive position sothat the butts of all needles N and N pass over the right-hand stitchcam 45, beneath the top center cam 44, and beneath the lefthand stitchcam 46. At the same time, the dial needles D are moved outwardly by thepush-out cam 31 and the shed cam 30, as shown in FIGURE 4. Thus, allcylinder and dial needles take yarn in their hooks as they pass the feedfinger 52. Since the dial needles D are substantially aligned above thecylinder needles N, loops L-1 are formed on the cylinder needles N whileloops L-2 are formed on the corresponding dial needles, as shown inwales W-1 and W-3 of course C-1 (FIGURE 2). At the same time, thecylinder needles N form loops L-3, as shown in Wale W-2 of course C-1.

After the first round and one-half, the divider cam 53 moves inwardly tothe active position shown in FIGURE 3 so that the butts of the cylinderneedles N are then directed beneath the hight-hand stitch cam 45 to aninactive level and the loops L-1 are held in the hooks of these needlesduring the complete knitting of the cuff C. At the same time, theknitting push-out cam 31 is withdrawn so that the dial needles are notprojected outwardly to pick up yarn and the loops L-2 are held in thehooks of the dial needles while the selvage courses C-2 through C-8 areknit on cylinder needles N. The cylinder needles N are raised by theircorresponding jacks J and the jack cam 39 so that their butts pass abovethe divider cam 53 and the right-hand stitch cam 45 and pick up yarn intheir hooks and form successive stitch loops, as shown in wales W-2 andW-4 of courses C-2 through C-8 of FIGURE 2.

In knitting the course C-9, the push-out cam 31 moves down so that thedial needles are again projected outwardly by the shed cam 30 to pickupthe yarn to form inwardly facing stitch loops in the wales W1 and W-3and to shed the loops L-2 which these dial needles had been holdingduring the knitting of the selvage courses C-2 through C-S. During theknitting of the courses C-9 through C-107, the dial needles D and thecylinder needles N continue to form ribbed fabric, and the dial needlesN continue to hold the stitch loops L-l thereon as they pass beneath thestitch cams, at an inactive level. During the knitting of the course'C108, the dividing cam 53 is withdrawn so that the previously inactiveneedles N pass above the right-hand stitch cam 45, pick up yarn, andform stitch loops, as shown in wales W-l and W-3, as they are lowered bythe left-hand stitch cam 46, thereby shedding the previously held stitchloops L-l. During the course C108, the push-out cam 31 is also withdrawnso that loops L-4 in wales W-1 and W-3 are held in the hooks of theinactive dial needles during this round.

During the knitting of the course C-109, all cylinder needles N and Ncontinue to pick up yarn and knit and the dial needles D are projectedoutwardly by the pushout cam 32 and the transfer cam 29, as shown inFIG- URE 5. The cylinder needles N are raised so that their hooks passup through the loops L-4, which had been held on the dial needles, asshown in FIGURE 5. The dial needles are then retracted by the outer camring 27 so that the loop L-4 is transferred to the cylinder needles N.When the yarn is picked up at the feeding station by the needles N, thedouble yarn loops are formed in the wales W-1 and W-3 of course C-109.

The swing cam 33 cooperates with the transfer pushout cam 32 during thetransfer of the stitch loops from the dial needles D to the cylinderneedles N. The cam 32 is moved down while the short butt dial needlesare moving thereby so that the long butt dial needles are moved out. Theswing cam 33 is high enough that it will engage only the long butt dialneedles and it is initially positioned in the solid line position shownin FIGURE 4. Thus, the long butt dial needles which are first moved outby the cam 32 are moved back in by the swing cam 33 to pass inside ofthe transfer cam 29. While the long butt dial needles are moving pastthe cam 32, it is moved down far enough to engage the short butt dialneedles so that they are moved out and they are not moved back in by theswing cam 33. The swing cam 33 is moved to the dotted line inactiveposition (FIGURE 4) as the short butt dial needles are passing so thatthe long butt dial needles are moved out by the transfer cam 29. Whilethe long butt dial needles pass the cam 32, it is stepped up so that theshort butt dial needles are not moved out, since their stitch loops havebeen transferred to the dial needles N.

Thus, the loops L-l are connected to the loops in wales W-1 and W3 ofcourse C-108 as the cylinder needles N are brought back into activeposition to complete the turned cuff C. Also, the stitch loops L-4 are 5transferred from the dial needles D to the cylinder needles N in courseC-109.

In knitting the course C-110 and succeeding courses, the dial needles Dremain in an innermost inactive position while all the cylinder needlesN and N pick up the yarn and form outwardly facing stitch loops in eachwale to provide a plain or jersey knit fabric in the ankle area 13.

After the desired number of plain courses are knit in the ankle portion13, the heel pocket 11 may be knit in any conventional manner and isusually formed by reciprocation of the needle cylinder to form anarrowed gusset and a widened gusset which are connected together bysuture lines. The foot portion 10 is knit with rotation of the needlecylinder and then the toe pocket 12 may 15 be formed in any suitablemanner, such as by reciprocation of the needle cylinder. The toe end ofthe sock is closed in the usual manner and the sock is then subjected tothe usual finishing operations, such as dyeing, boarding, and the like.

. 20 Thus, the sock of the present invention lncludes a through specificterms are employed, they are used in 3 a generic and descriptive senseonly, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the inventionbeing defined in the claims.

I claim: 1. In a sock including a foot portion and an ankle portionextending upwardly therefrom, the combination therewith of a two-plytrue rib, turned cuff, integrally knit with said ankle portion andcomprising first and second true rib plies, the upper portions of saidplies being connected along a fold line, a plurality of selvage coursesbetween the lower edge of said first ply and said ankle portion, saidselvage courses comprising half as many wales as the number of wales inthe courses of said first ply, a connector course including stitch loopsalternately connected to stitch loops of the lower edge of said firstply and to stitch loops of the courses of said ankle portion, to stitchloops of the courses of said ankle portion, and to stitch loops in thefirst of said selvage courses, and the lower edge of said Second plybeing integrally knit with and connected to the courses of said ankleportion.

52. A sock according to claim 1 wherein the stitch loops in every otherWale of said first and second plies face outwardly of said cuff and thestitch loops in the remaining wales face inwardly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,799,070 3/1931 Scott 66-1721,832,181 11/1931 Byer 66173 1,873,811 8/1932 Bausher 66173 2,141,44012/1938 Lawson et al. 66199 2,763,146 9/1956 Minton 66172 2,926,5123/1960 Robertson 66-173 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 4,972 1905 Great Britain.

WM. CARTER REYNOLDS Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

